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Definition of Backward
1. Adverb. At or to or toward the back or rear. "She looked rearward out the window of the car"
2. Adjective. Directed or facing toward the back or rear. "A backward view"
Also: Regressive, Retrospective
Antonyms: Forward
3. Adverb. In a manner or order or direction the reverse of normal. "The child put her jersey on backward"
4. Adjective. (used of temperament or behavior) marked by a retiring nature. "A backward lover"
5. Adverb. In or to or toward a past time. "Lovers of the past looking fondly backward"
6. Adjective. Retarded in intellectual development.
Language type: Archaicism, Archaism
Similar to: Retarded
Derivative terms: Backwardness, Feeblemindedness, Slow-wittedness
7. Adjective. Having made less than normal progress. "An economically backward country"
Definition of Backward
1. adv. With the back in advance or foremost; as, to ride backward.
2. a. Directed to the back or rear; as, backward glances.
3. n. The state behind or past.
4. v. t. To keep back; to hinder.
Definition of Backward
1. Adjective. (context: of motion) Pertaining to the direction towards the back. ¹
2. Adjective. (context: of motion) Pertaining to the direction reverse of normal. ¹
3. Adjective. Reluctant or unable to advance. ¹
4. Adjective. Of a culture considered undeveloped or unsophisticated. ¹
5. Adjective. Pertaining to a thought or value that is considered outdated. ¹
6. Adjective. (cricket) On that part of the field behind the batsman's popping crease. ¹
7. Adjective. (cricket) Further behind the batsman's popping crease than something else. ¹
8. Adverb. (context: of motion) In the direction towards the back; backwards ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Backward
1. toward the back [adv]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Backward
Literary usage of Backward
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Modern Democracies by James Bryce Bryce (1921)
"The first of these causes is the contact, closer than ever before, which now
exists between the more Advanced and the more backward families of mankind. ..."
2. The American Journal of the Medical Sciences by Southern Society for Clinical Investigation (U.S.) (1892)
"He concludes that backward displacement of the uterus does not cause ... In the
later years of the childbearing period, backward displacement causes a small ..."
3. A Practical treatise on fractures and dislocations by Lewis Atterbury Stimson (1899)
"The dislocation may be complete or incomplete, upward, forward, or backward; and
when complete it is usually also inward, toward the median line, ..."
4. Gymnastic Teaching by William Skarstrom (1921)
"Reverse grasp, start swing, on next backward swing half right turn, ... Swing,
pass feet between hands, shoot over bar to back rest; backward knee circle to ..."